Editorial
Front Page - Monday, November 23, 2009
Financing available for existing mobile homes?
Ethan C. Nobles
Special to the Daily Record
ecnobles@att.net
Benton Realtor Mitchell Mote said there’s a problem with mobile homes – if an owner has one and wants to sell it, what financing options are available for buyers?
Mote said finding financing is a relatively easy matter for people buying new, double-wide mobile homes. Most manufacturers operating in central Arkansas offer their own financing.
Existing mobile homes are a different matter entirely. Finding financing for a double-wide home is very difficult and it’s next to impossible to find a bank willing to issue a loan for the purchase of a single-wide one.
“Most Realtors don’t want to deal with it,” Mote said, adding that most banks want the mobile home to be at least a double-wide on a permanent foundation.
Christopher J. Corwin, direct lending manager for 21st Mortgage Corp., said his company has financing available for both new and used mobile homes. Based in Knoxville, Tenn., 21st Mortgage is owned by mobile home manufacturer Clayton Homes.
Corwin said one of the things his company allows Realtors to do is list them like any other residential property. The problem in the past has been that finding financing for existing mobile homes has been difficult in the past.
In addition to providing financing through retailers selling new mobile homes manufactured by Clayton and other mobile home companies, Corwin said 21st Mortgage offers packages that are similar to what’s available to people buying conventional, existing homes. Some of those packages include:
• A requirement that people buying existing mobile homes must put five to 10 percent of the total purchase price of the property down on the loan.
• Home insurance.
• Fixed interest rate mortgages.
• No prepayment penalties.
• Escrow services for insurance and taxes.
• No requirement for mortgage insurance. Mortgage insurance, by the way, is required of most people taking out conventional mortgages who put less than 20 percent of the purchase price of the home down on the loan.
• No requirement that the home is on a permanent foundation.
• Closing costs can be rolled into the total amount financed so as to cut down on out-of-pocket expenses.
Corwin said people wanting to finance a mobile home through his company can apply for free on the phone or on the Internet and they’ll typically find out if they are approved in three to five days.
Corwin said his company currently services $5 billion in loans on mobile homes. In the recent past, 21st Mortgage focuses on new mobile homes. However, the company now has the capital to finance existing homes and has been promoting its services to Realtors in hopes of convincing them to list existing mobile homes.
For more information about 21st Mortgage, visit the company on the Internet at www.21stmortgage.com.
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